History of the Art Museum:

The Warwick Museum of Art began as a Bicentennial project in 1974 by the non-profit organizations groups of the City of Warwick. Warwick's Bicentennial celebration was arranged so that different events would occur during the twelve months of 1976. February was set aside for non-profit groups to celebrate their event for the nation's 200th anniversary.

For its biannual National Federation of Women's Club Community Improvement contest project, The Warwick Junior Women's Club (now the Warwick Women's Club) chose to establish a museum for the city. Other non-profit organizations wanting to be part of the bicentennial project signed on as well.

To create a sense of pride in the city, to better educate the citizenry as to their long and varied history and to have a place where local art exhibitions and historic displays depicting Warwick's past could be shown, the theme, "From the past, to the present, for the future" was adopted.

Many locations were considered but discarded because of opposition by abutting neighbors. Finally, Mayor Gene McCaffrey located a space at the Pontiac Mill complex. Members of the Museum board and friends sandblasted the building, built decking, got a new front entry and prepared the facility for the February 29, 1976 opening. In the meantime, each member organization sponsored fundraising events like fashion shows, concerts, and formal dance at the Aldrich Estate.

To advertise the coming of the new museum and to give students an idea of what the new museum would be like, a traveling exhibition visited local schools.

The first director, Carol Blank, was funded through a federal grant and the first exhibit was prepared, showing early preparation of flax, demonstrations of spinning and weaving and life size pictures of the mill workers at work.

The Junior's project came in fifth out of 10,000 clubs competing nationally and brought winning money to the Museum. The Bicentennial committee also gave the Museum a cash award.

The first president elected was Warwick Junior and Community Improvement chairman Joyce Almeida, and Harry Knickle from the Jaycees and Julina Olney from the Warwick Historical Society were named vice presidents. Other organizations represented were the Jaycee-ettes, the Rotary, the Warwick Teachers Union, the Kent County Visiting Nurses Association, the Red Cross, and the Warwick Chamber of Commerce.

Early exhibits tended to be historical. A permanent collection did not exist, so exhibits were borrowed from other museums or personal collections. Over the years there were a wide range of exhibits, ranging from fine silver from the Smithsonian's collection, to an exhibit on professional quahogging in Narragansett Bay.

In the early 1970's, the Boys Club moved out of the Kentish Artillery Armory building, leaving it empty, and when the last member of the Kentish Guard passed on, the Armory was deeded to the city. The Warwick Museum moved to the Armory in 1977 after renovation by board members and friends.

The Museum School became a central part of the Museum's outreach and is now a permanent program. After strong public interest in art exhibitions, the museum voted to focus more heavily in art, and changed the Museum's name first to the Warwick Art Museum. and finally, the Warwick Museum of Art.  

History of the Kentish Armory:

Warwick Museum's current home, the Kentish Artillery Armory, is listed on the national register of Historic Places. This red-brick armory has a gable-roofed rear fronted by a block with projecting square corner towers and a battlemented parapet. It was designed by the Providence firm William R. Walker and Son, the architects who designed Warwick City Hall.

Erected in 1912, the structure replaced the Kentish Artillery Company's first armory and drill hall- a wooden Greek Revival- style structure built in 1854 and destroyed by fire in 1911. The Kentish Artillery Company traces its roots back to 1797 when it was first organized (as the Kentish Light Infantry) at the recommendation of George Washington. The Kentish Artillery continued until the late 1970's, when its last member died. The town of Warwick had given the Kentish Artillery permission in 1854 to build its armory on the eastern portion of the town lot and, over a century later, its building was given to the City.

This historic armory has another idiosyncrasy. Records indicate that in 1804 the Kentish Artillery was given, along with other armaments, two Revolutionary War cannons. Indeed, for the new 1912 armory, two niches to house them were built on either side of the front doorway. The Walker firm added a charge of $2.50 to their final invoice for "carting the cannon" to the new building, pointing to the fact that the guns were valuable and made of metal. On your next visit to Warwick Museum of Art, you can see that the present cannons are wooden replicas; the originals disappeared in 1972, and the case of the missing cannons has never been solved.

The interior of the Kentish Artillery armory has been adapted for its present use as a museum, housing a gallery for exhibitions, classrooms, and office space. The long, narrow  "shooting gallery" in the basement awaits renovation for its future use as a home for the museum's permanent collection.